The Trial of German Major War Criminals

Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany
7th January to 19th January, 1946

Twenty-Ninth Day:
Tuesday, January 8th, 1946
(Part 7 of 10)

[Page 73]

By May, 1942, Goering was able to boast of the assistance
which he had rendered to the work of the Einsatzstab
Rosenberg. In our Document 1051-PS, which has been read in
evidence (Page 68, Part 3), he is shown writing to the
defendant Rosenberg that he personally supports the work of
the Einsatzstab wherever he can do so and that he attributes
the seizure of such a large number of art treasures to the
assistance he was able to render the Einsatzstab.

Thus the defendant Goering's responsibility for the planning
of the looting of art, which was actually accomplished by
the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, would seem clear.

Details of the execution of the Germanisation and spoliation
policies in both the Western and Eastern countries occupied
by the German armies will be presented subsequently by the
French and Soviet prosecution. The responsibility of the
defendant Goering, in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for
the Four Year Plan, as President of the Cabinet Council for
the Defence of the Reich and in other capacities, will be
further demonstrated by that evidence.

The plans of the Nazi conspirators with respect to Poland
have been shown by evidence already offered. The Nazis
purported to incorporate the four Western provinces of
Poland into the German Reich. In the remaining portions
occupied by them they set up the Government General. It has
been shown that the Nazis planned to Germanise the so-called
incorporated territories ruthlessly, by deporting the Polish
intelligentsia, Jews and dissident elements to the
Government General for eventual elimination, by confiscating
Polish property, by sending those so deprived of their
property to Germany as labourers, and by importing German
settlers. It was specifically planned to exploit the people
and material resources of the territory within the
Government General by taking whatever was needed to
strengthen the Nazi war machine, thus impoverishing this
region and reducing it to a vassal state.

The defendant Goering, together with Hitler and Lammers and
with the defendants Frick and Hess, on 8th October, 1939,
signed the decree by which certain parts of Polish territory
were incorporated into the Reich.

Purporting to act by virtue of the foregoing decree,
Goering, as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan, signed an
order on 30th October, 1939, concerning the introduction of
the Four Year Plan in the Eastern territories.

In his directive dated 19th October, 1939, Goering stated
that the task for the economic treatment of the various
administrative regions would differ, depending on whether a
country was to be incorporated politically into the German
Reich or whether the Government General was involved, which,
in all probability, would not be made a part of Germany.

He went on to say:

"In the first-mentioned territories the reconstruction
and expansion of the economy, the safeguarding of all
their production facilities and supplies must be aimed
at, as well as a complete incorporation into the Greater
German economic system at the earliest possible time. On
the other hand, there must be removed from the
territories of the Government General all raw materials,
scrap materials, machines, etc., which are of use for the
German war economy. Enterprises which are not absolutely
necessary for the meagre maintenance of the bare
existence of the population must be transferred to
Germany, unless such transfer would require an
unreasonably long period of time and would make it more
practical to exploit those enterprises by giving them
German orders to be executed at their present location."

From the foregoing documents the complicity of the defendant
Goering in the plans for the ruthless exploitation of Poland
appears clear. But his fine

[Page 74]

hand also may be found behind the remainder of the Nazi
plans for Poland. As an illustration, it was the defendant
Goering who signed, with Hitler and the defendant Keitel,
the secret decree of 7th October, 1939, which entrusted
Himmler with the task of executing the Germanisation
programme. That secret decree was read into evidence (Page
428, Part 2).

Evidence already introduced has shown from the mouths of
Himmler, the defendant Frank and others just what this
appointment involved in human suffering and degradation.

Similarly, it was the defendant Goering who, by virtue of
his powers as Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, issued
a decree on 17th September, 1940, concerning confiscation in
the incorporated Eastern territories. This decree applied to
"property of citizens of the former Polish State within the
territory of the Greater German Reich, including the
incorporated Eastern territories." I ask the Tribunal to
take judicial notice of our Document 1665-PS, which is an
"Order concerning Treatment of Property of Nationals of the
former Polish State," cited in 1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part
1, Page 1270. I shall read from this document:

"Article 1.

(1) Property of nationals of the former Polish State
within the area of the Greater German Reich, including
annexed Eastern territories, is subject to confiscation,
administration by commissioner and sequestration in
accordance with
the following regulations."

I now pass to Article II.

(1) Confiscation will be applied in case of property
belonging to:

(a) Jews.

(b) Persons who have fled or who have absented
themselves for longer than a temporary period.

(2) Confiscation may be applied:

(a) If the property is needed for the public good,
especially for purposes of national defence or the
strengthening of German nationhood.

(b) If the owners or other persons entitled to it
emigrated into the, then, area of the German Reich
after 1st October, 1918."

I pass now to Article IX, the first part:

"(1) Sequestered property can be confiscated in favour of
the Reich by the competent office, if the public weal,
particularly the defence of the Reich or the
consolidation of the German nationality, requires it."

Evidence has also been introduced by the United States
showing the extent to which the spoliation of Soviet
territory and resources and the barbarous treatment
inflicted on Soviet citizens were the result of plans long
made and carefully drawn up by the Nazis before they
launched their aggressive war on the Soviet Union. The Nazis
planned to destroy the industrial potential of the Northern
regions occupied by their armies and so to administer the
production of food in the South and South-East, which
normally produced a surplus of food, that the population of
the Northern region would inevitably be reduced to
starvation because of diversion of such surplus food to the
German Reich. It has been shown also that the Nazis planned
to incorporate Galicia and all of the Baltic countries into
Germany and to convert the Crimea, an area north of the
Crimea, the Volga territory and the district around Baku
into German colonies.

By 29th April, 1941, almost two months prior to the invasion
of the Soviet Union, it appears that Hitler had entrusted
the defendant Goering with the overall direction of the
economic administration in the area of operations and in the
areas under political administration. It further appears
that Goering had set up an economic staff and subsidiary
authorities to carry out this function.

[Page 75]

The form of this organisation created by Goering and the
duties of its various sections appear clearer in a set of
directives "for the operation of the economy in the newly
occupied territories" issued by Goering, as Reich Marshal of
the Greater German Reich, in June, 1941. These directives
are contained in the important "Green Portfolio" which,
curiously enough, was printed by the Wehrmacht. By the terms
of these directives it is stated that "The orders of the
Reich Marshal cover all economic fields, including nutrition
and agriculture. They are to be executed by the subordinate
economic offices."

An "Economic Staff East" was charged with the execution of
orders transmitted to it from higher authority. One sub-
division of this staff, the Agricultural Section, was
charged with the following functions: "Nutrition and
agriculture, the economy of all agricultural products,
provision of supplies for the Army in co-operation with the
Army Groups concerned." Excerpts from the "Green Portfolio"
have already been admitted as Exhibit USA 315, but I will
offer at this time some additional excerpts in support of
the facts I have just related. I would like to offer, as
Exhibit USA 587, our Document 1743-PS. This is another copy
of the "Green Portfolio," and I want to offer this portfolio
to show to the Tribunal that these directives were
originally published in June, 1941. Document EC-472, which
is already in evidence as Exhibit USA 315, was a revised
edition published in July, 1941. In other words, the
economic plan for the invasion was ready when the Wehrmacht
actually marched into the Soviet Union on 22nd June, 1941.

As appears from the foregoing directives, it was a sub-
division of the economic organisation set up by the
defendant Goering, the Agricultural Section of the "Economic
Staff East," which rendered a top secret report on 23rd May,
1941, containing a set of policy directives for the
exploitation of Soviet agriculture. It will be recalled that
these directives contemplated abandonment of all industry in
the food deficit regions, with certain exceptions, and the
diversion of food from the food surplus regions to German
needs, even though millions of people would inevitably die
of starvation as a result. Those directives have already
been read into evidence (Page 4, Part 3).

Minutes of a meeting at Hitler's headquarters on 16th July,
1941, kept by the defendant Bormann, have also been read in
part in evidence. It was at this meeting that Hitler stated
that the Nazis never intended to leave the countries then
being occupied by their armies, that although the rest of
the world was to be deceived on this point, nevertheless,
"this need not prevent us taking all necessary measures -
shooting, desettling, etc. - and we shall take them." That
quotation, may it please the Tribunal, was taken from
Exhibit USA 317, our Document L-221. Then Hitler discussed
making the Crimea and other parts of the Soviet Union into
German colonies. The defendant Goering was present and
participated in this conference.

As a final illustration it appears from a memorandum dated
16th September, 1941, which is our Exhibit 318, that Goering
presided over a meeting of German military officials
concerned with the better exploitation of the occupied
territories for the German food economy. In discussing this
topic, he said:

"In the occupied territories, on principle, only those
people are to be supplied with an adequate amount of food
who work for us. Even if one wanted to feed all the other
inhabitants, one could not do it in the newly occupied
Eastern areas. It is, therefore, wrong to funnel off food
supplies for this purpose, if it is done at the expense
of the Army and necessitates increased supplies from
home."

From the foregoing documents, participation of the defendant
Goering in the Nazi plans for committing wholesale War
Crimes in occupied territories is, we submit, clear.

I turn, now, to Goering's planning and his participation in
inhumane acts committed against civilian populations before
and during the war. It has been

[Page 76]

shown that shortly after becoming Prime Minister of Prussia
in 1933, Goering created the Gestapo in Prussia, which
became a model for that instrument of terror as it was
extended to the rest of Germany. Concentration camps were
established in Prussia in the spring of 1933 under his
administration, and these camps were then placed under the
charge of the Gestapo, of which he was chief.

The extent to which Goering and the other Nazi conspirators
employed these institutions as agencies for the commission
of their crimes already appears from the evidence. In 1936
Himmler became chief of the German Police. Thereafter
Goering was able to devote his attention chiefly to the task
of creating the German Air Force and to the task of
preparing the nation economically for aggressive war.
However, he continued to be concerned with these
institutions of his creation. An example of this is shown in
our Document 1584-PS-1, already introduced as Exhibit USA
221, which is a teletype sent by Goering to Himmler in which
he requested the latter to place at his disposal as great a
number of concentration camp inmates as possible, as the
situation of air warfare made the subterranean transfer of
industry necessary.

In his reply, Himmler advised Goering by teletype that a
survey on the employment of prisoners in the aviation
industry showed that 36,000 were being employed for the
purposes of the Air Forces and that an increase to a total
of 90,000 prisoners was being contemplated.

Evidence has been introduced as to medical experiments
performed on human beings at the concentration, camp at
Dachau, and the part played by Field Marshal Milch, State
Secretary and Deputy to Goering as Air Minister, for whose
acts the latter must bear full responsibility, is abundantly
clear from letters written by Milch to General Wolff on 20th
May, 1942, and to Himmler in August, 1942, both of which
have been read in evidence (Page 161, Part 3), our Document
343-PS.

Finally, I turn to Goering's participation in the
elimination of all members of the Jewish race from the
economic life of Germany and in the extermination of all
Jews in the continent of Europe.

In 1935 the defendant Goering, as President of the
Reichstag, made a speech urging that body to pass the
infamous Nuremberg Racial Law. I offer, as Exhibit USA 588,
our Document 3458-PS, which is an excerpt from Ruhle's "Das
Dritte Reich," Page 257. Goering said:

"God has created the races. He did not want equality and
therefore we energetically reject any attempt to falsify
the concept of race purity by making it equivalent with
racial equality. We have experienced what it means when a
people has to live in accordance with the laws of an
equality that is alien to its kind and contrary to
nature. For this equality does not exist. We have never
acknowledged such an idea and therefore must reject it
also, as a matter of principle, in our laws, and we must
acknowledge that purity of race which Nature and
Providence have destined."

Again, to show his official attitude, as revealed on 26th
March, 1938, in a speech in Vienna, I offer as Exhibit USA
437 our Document 3460-PS, starting with Page 348. Goering
said:

"I must address a serious word to the city of Vienna. The
city of Vienna can no longer rightfully be called a
German city. So many Jews live in this city. Where there
are 300,000 Jews, you cannot speak of a German city.

Vienna must once more become a German city, because it
must perform important tasks for Germany in Germany's
Ostmark. These tasks lie in the sphere of culture as well
as in the sphere of economics. In neither of them can we,
in the long run, put up with the Jew.

This task, however, should not be attempted by
inappropriate interference and stupid measures but must
be done systematically and carefully.

[Page 77]

As Delegate for the Four Year Plan, I commission the
Reichsstatthalter in Austria jointly with the
Plenipotentiary of the Reich to consider and take any
steps necessary for the redirection of Jewish commerce,
i.e., for the Aryanisation of business and economic life,
and to execute this process in accordance with our laws,
legally but inexorably."

Acting within the framework of economic preparation for
aggressive war, the Nazi conspirators then began the
complete elimination of Jews from economic life preparatory
to their physical annihilation. The defendant Goering, as
head of the Four Year Plan, was in active charge of this
phase of the persecution.

The first step in his campaign was the Decree of 26th April,
1933, requiring registration of all Jewish property. Both
Goering and the defendant Frick signed that law. It is
already in evidence.

I beg the Tribunal's pardon. I would like the Tribunal to
take judicial notice of that decree, which is our Document
1406-PS and cited as 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, part 1, Page 414.

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